ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd Acquires 585,319 Shares of UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd raised its holdings in shares of UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) by 31.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,449,761 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 585,319 shares during the quarter. UBS Group comprises 2.6% of ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd’s holdings in UBS Group were worth $74,965,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in UBS Group by 6.1% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 57,349,524 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,771,713,000 after purchasing an additional 3,289,387 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of UBS Group by 2.8% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 30,802,466 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $952,104,000 after acquiring an additional 851,231 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in shares of UBS Group by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 16,751,961 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $543,936,000 after acquiring an additional 95,712 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of UBS Group by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 16,445,068 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $502,398,000 after acquiring an additional 301,394 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of UBS Group by 20.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,708,623 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $423,504,000 after acquiring an additional 2,307,033 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of UBS Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

UBS Group Trading Up 1.8 %

UBS stock opened at $31.94 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.76, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $102.40 billion, a PE ratio of 21.01 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $33.53 and its 200 day moving average is $32.02. UBS Group AG has a 12 month low of $26.01 and a 12 month high of $35.84.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The bank reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.08). UBS Group had a net margin of 6.93% and a return on equity of 5.93%. The firm had revenue of $11.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.09) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that UBS Group AG will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This is a boost from UBS Group’s previous annual dividend of $0.23. This represents a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.08%.

About UBS Group

UBS Group AG provides financial advice and solutions to private, institutional, and corporate clients worldwide. It operates through five divisions: Global Wealth Management, Personal & Corporate Banking, Asset Management, Investment Bank, and Non-core and Legacy. The company offers investment advice, estate and wealth planning, investing, corporate and banking, and investment management, as well as mortgage, securities-based, and structured lending solutions.